A Friendship, A Love, A Lifetime
by DustNWind
Summary: There was no spoken word to indicate that a battle had begun. No bull horn, no air pistol...not even a hand shake to indicate that their was an inner peace still between the two contestants. Their eyes were too busy taking in the prize at the other en
1. Chapter One

AN: Considering I was a softball player, this could have easily became a piece of work written from "Batter's up" point of view but while talking to someone this whole idea came to me in the form of a track race.

Summary: There was no spoken word to indicate that a battle had begun. No bull horn, no air pistol...not even a hand shake to indicate that their was an inner peace still between the two "contestants". Their eyes were too busy taking in the "prize" at the other end of the finish line.

**A Friendship, A Love, A Lifetime **

The halls of Henry Roscoe High had changed.

Even the glistening of the walls that had been achieved from "Neat Week" was long gone from the humidity attached to the emptiness that lurked there through the summer days.

Grade ten was right around the corner for those who had embraced and conquered the journey of 9th grade up until a little over two months earlier.

Travis spent more time with the band at rehearsals, using the excuse that he wanted to be there for when technical help was desired.

They refused to let school creep up upon them without carrying out the potential that summer allowed for their developing band.

Megan's drumming was awesome to begin with but she had now officially broken the habit of throwing her sticks ever time a song ended. Instead they agreed she would keep it for after live performances only.

Parker played the bass with just as much enthusiasm as always. She had gotten the chance to practice using her voice more for back up vocals and was doing a spectacular job at it if you asked Travis.

Lily...oh the list that could be made about the newest works of the one and only Lily Randall. For someone who lived in a small town that was claimed to have crappy summers, she sure seemed confident in her search for inspiration.

She was jotting down new ideas practically everyday and her fellow band mates were having trouble keeping up with her in all truth. When she wasn't writing she was sitting in her basement with lyrics out and guitar in hand, playing along until she found a sound she liked to go with the words.

Besides music, there was something...or rather someone, who was on two-thirds of the band members minds.

With RFR only broadcasting once a week though the summer months, the gang had a lot of spare time on their hands.

With No Man's Land dedicated to music above all else the most Robbie or Ray saw of Travis or Lily was when they'd actually sit in on a rehearsal.

Everything seemed to be going pretty well until they finally called for a break.

"Guys, I know we have improved a lot in the last two months, but I think it is time that we call for a break," Lily announces to the band after another hour of working on the latest song.

"I agree with Randy. We should find a way to spend our last two weeks of vacation on something other then rocking out," Parker says as they begin to put away and organize the equipment.

Megan nods her head and Travis lets them know that he thinks a break is a good idea as well.

"It's a sealed deal then. No more music practice for at least two weeks," Lily says with a smile.

"You seem especially excited about this. Any specific reason Lil," Travis asks noticing her happy expression.

"Not really, I just think it feels great to be taking a break. We have been practicing ALL summer."

The other three give a silent amen and head up the stairs to leave. Lily follows them a few steps behind and watches as her friends reach their departure from the front door. It feels great to be free to do anything she wants for the duration of the break.

This is where the conflict begins.

For three days the members of the band go separate ways, as Lily gets to visit a mall in Toronto, Parker goes for a swim at the lake, Megan goes birdwatching at the park, and Travis brings out his telescope once again to gaze at the visible stars that the clear summer sky allows.

When it reaches the weekend Lily and Parker both find themselves at a hiatus for fun.

Ray invites Robbie on his family's camping trip, making them both unavailable for Lily to spend time with. '

With high hopes, Lily goes to Mickey's and buys an iced lemonade. She sits alone at the couch in the middle of the room before Travis arrives.

He doesn't expect it, but Lily's face lights up when he sits down beside her. This takes him by surprise because it is similar to look he observed the week of their first kiss.

"Hey Lil, how has the beginning of your vacation from music been," he asks her while resisting temptation to respond to her face's glow.

"It's been okay I guess. I got to go down to Toronto and do some shopping. Right now it seems rather boring though," she responds.

"Yeah, gazing at the stars is only useful at night and it isn't something I can do for longer then maybe an hour before I get tired."

"So you brought out the old telescope again? I thought you'd given up on all that stuff," she says curiously.

"Well, I did for a while. I just figured now was as good a time as any to get back into the hobby."

A man hands Travis his cup of tea that he orders regularly and he takes a sip of it happily.

When the man passes in front of him, Parker comes into view over at the counter. Lily notices she has arrived too but figures that she'll probably see them and come over on her own. As she is thinking this though, Travis gets up and walks over to her himself.

Lily gazes over with interest as he watches him greet her and start a conversation. She had failed to notice it before, but now it appeared plain as day that Parker liked Travis. What bothered her more though was that Travis seemed to like her back.

It wasn't obvious that jealousy hid deep within Lily. Twice before, her and Travis had found themselves seeking a relationship with each other unsuccessfully.

She had told Parker to her face that she didn't feel any of the classic crush symptoms around Travis. At the time she really did feel like friendship was the only thing they were destined to have.

Now her mind had changed itself once again. She found herself drawn to Travis more each day as she watched him, watching them playing the music she wrote.

Without another hesitation Lily walked over and took a seat on the opposite side of Travis then Parker was on.

Parker looked caught off guard by Lily's sudden appearance and didn't finish the sentence she was in the middle of.

Lily gave her a look and Parker saw something in her eyes that made her uneasy. Travis sat still and looked back and fourth between the two as they started an unannounced staring contest that apparently had ended their conversation prematurely.

What was only about ten minutes seemed like an hour to Travis as two of his friends sat on either side of him, exchanging looks in a silence that was highly unusual for either of them to carry.

He eventually just slipped out of his seat and looked back only once as he exited the door of Mickey's to find that neither Parker nor Lily had made an effort to move.

There was no spoken word to indicate that a battle had begun. No bull horn, no air pistol...not even a hand shake to indicate that their was an inner peace still between the two "contestants". Their eyes were too busy taking in the "prize" at the other end of the finish line.


	2. Chapter Two

AN: I have taken a long time to get to this update, but sometimes I am either busy or not in the mood for writing. I'm now staying up late so I have finally get what I wanted to write for this out there and done.

Chapter Two

Travis held his cell phone in his hand and smirked at the plan he had managed to come up with after seeing Lily and Parker the night before.

They could not have been more obvious if they tried.

He knew that somehow both girls were now wanting more then a friendship with him and that they were now in an undeclared battle with each other.

Being the guy he was, he knows that friendship is worth more then love at this point in their lives.

If he was more sneaky, daring, or possibly what you would call a bigger jerk then he would have spent the night planning a schedule to play both girls.

Love isn't a game to Travis though, and quality was what he was looking for rather then quantity.

To him you could have five or even ten girls wanting you, but all the numbers in the world would mean nothing if none of them had depth in their feelings.

What he aimed to do was set the two best friends straight.

The last thing that anyone wanted, or much less needed, was for another situation like the one with Audrey.

Lily wasn't likely to get lucky enough to find another girl friend to take a break from her guy friends again.

Travis dialed Lily's number and put a smile on his face hoping that it would make his voice sound happy also.

He asked her to meet him at the track behind their school and she didn't get much opportunity to reject.

Right afterward he dialed Parker's number and asked her to come to the track as well.

For once it was possible one of his views was going to help keep a friendship together.

He arrived at the track enough in advanced so that there wasn't a chance of them beating him there.

If they knew both of them had been invited then they would leave quicker then they had arrived.

After waiting only a few minutes Lily came into view with little time to speak before Parker turned a corner that made her come into view as well.

When they realized they had both been asked to the track by Travis they refused to make eye contact and stared at Travis instead as if waiting for him to explain himself.

He soon spoke up and asked them to sit in the grass beside the track.

"You must both be wondering why you are here. You will find out the answer to this shortly. I have noticed a rise in the competitive attitude and I think that there is something you need to hear."

Neither girl looked too thrilled but they stayed for the mere fact that leaving might make Travis take less liking to them.

"You may think this is a waste of time but I want you to close your eyes for this. I guess you can call it a form of meditation, but it is more to create a visual image. You don't have to listen but I can assure you that what I say will solve the conflict that has begun."

Both girls close their eyes at Travis's request and wait for him to talk so that they knew what it was they were supposed to visualize.

"To begin you'll have to imagine yourselves behind the track line, getting ready to start a race. You are the only people in the race. At the finish line is the thing that both of you desire. The problem is, only one of you can have it."

Once both girls have started to get into it Travis continues and a journey through philosophy begins.

_You both take your positions and are all set as the guy off to the side has the pistol that will indicate when to begin. _

_He guides you through your mark and set, before raising the gun into the air and firing it._

_Both of you take off with your hearts set on the prize that is waiting at the finish line._

_Keep in mind that the two people competing are, or were best friends._

_You round the first corner and so far there is no large gap determining a lead. _

_Just ahead you notice there is a loose javalin, something that could give you an advantage if used right._

_You try and speed up just enough so you can grab it._

_Once it is in your possession you hold it in your hands and mysteriously run with it until you have gained a lead of a few feet._

_When your opponent least expects it you stick the javalin sideways so it is spread in front of where they are about to run._

_It is too late for them to react in time to stop and they run smack into the pole, causing them to fall back a little and wince from the pain of being nearly jabbed in the stomach. _

_Needless to say the injury cost them enough seconds to get you a large lead that would be hard to catch up to even if they were not injured. _

_The finish is now in eyesight and it looks like you got it in the bag._

_Your desire is closer and possible to grasp._

_The closeness causes you to have a rush of adrenaline which causes you to speed up just a little more._

_Your friend is well behind now and trying to jog while clenching their aching abdomen._

_SO close now...you can practically beath the same air as the desired one behind the red ribbon. _

_Something you have overlooked is on the side of the track near where the other person is passing and they smile as they hurry to pick it up._

_Everything happens so quickly you go from reaching your arms out to the ribbon to loosing your footing in seconds. _

_Unfortunately for you your friend was a bowling champion and had found a shot put in time to send you crashing to the ground from loss of balance. _

_They are now almost limping to the finish line with not much breath to spare._

_You still haven't gotten back up though because you almost twisted your ankle the wrong way and are feeling the tinge._

_Now the person you aimed so badly to beat is standing next to you and looks down on you._

_You are both only millimeters from the finish and all she has to do is take another step to have the prize._

_When she doesn't move you wonder what trick is up her sleeve._

_Is she going to wait until you begin to get up, enjoying the idea of making you think you have a chance only to break forward right then and dash your hopes. _

_A surprising thing happens though._

_The enemy you once called your friend gazes down at you and slowly begins to reach their hand out to you. _

_You take it and she helps lift you up._

_Neither of you move forward though and the "prize" looking on is bewildered. _

_Your friend speaks up instead._

_"Is this guy really worth hurting each other?"_

_"If you would have asked me a minute ago I probably would have said yes."_

_"Weare best friends, and I hear those are hard to come by."_

_They both walk into the ribbon at the same time and the guy congratulates them._

_"You are both smarter then I thought. You made the right choice."_

_He then walks off and leaves them thinking possibly they were set up._

_"So, why did you help me up when your desire was right in front of you?"_

_"Something my grandpa used to say when I was little that I promised myself to never forget."_

_"Really, what's that?"_

_"Never look down on someone unless you're helping them up."_

Travis paused for a minute and both girls now opened their eyes with their gaze quickly moving to one another.

Lily and Parker who had sat seperated moved over and shared a hug.

"I'm sorry for being jealous of you talking to Travis," Lily says.

"I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you about this first," Parker replies.

They silently thank Travis for setting them straight and walk off to go celebrate with lattes at Mickey's.

Travis looks on, resting his gaze mostly on Parker, knowing that he did the right thing.

AN: Okay, so my original "italics" part was better at first but it took me so long to write this I forgot what all I said so I had to do the best I could to duplicate it. I hope that you still thought it was okay, and I look forward to hearing what the readers have to think. I hope I didn't disappoint.


End file.
